Good morning friends and happy Friday!
This was another long week for me: doctor`s appointments, gloomy days and a snow storm on Wednesday night that left us with no cable and internet, at least we have power though and we feel very lucky! I think we have had enough for these 5 days! I am looking forward to the weekend and to some fun activities with the kids!
Today I want to talk to you a little about some items that I purchased recently or that I already own and that made my life easier. Lately I have been purging and organizing my house a lot. We have been in our new house for a year now (the anniversary was on March 3rd, we still can`t believe that it`s already been a year!) but we have already been able to create a mess! So what I am constantly doing is going room by room, cabinet by cabinet trying to keep stuff in their place. I am done with Aurora`s bedroom (the big thing was to organize her Lego sets!), I did our basement/playroom at least 10 times already! I feel like that`s the trickiest spot to keep clean and organized because the kids play there every day and make a mess every day! I did the kitchen, but I am still missing my bedroom and most of all my closet, but I will get to it when it is time to get out the clothes for Spring/Summer and I am sure it is not time yet and it will not be for a while!
Anyway, I want to show you some of the containers that I am mostly using in my kitchen and in my pantry to keep things organized (most of the links below will take you to affiliate links, which means that if you purchase something from Amazon following them I will get a small percentage):
1-SPICE RACK ORGANIZER FOR KITCHEN DRAWER (AMAZON, $ 16,99):
I just discovered this and as soon as I got it I started thinking why I haven`t got it before! It is so useful: it keeps all my spices in order, so that they don`t roll around and create a mess in the drawer, I can see my spices immediately and I don`t have to roll them in order to read the label and when I open the drawer I feel so much better seeing everything in its place! (I know, I know, I sound a little crazy, but I like to see things organized and disorder makes me feel bad!!).
2-CLEAR BINS FOR FRIDGE A ND PANTRY (AMAZON, AROUND $ 15,00):
I started buying these a couple years ago for my fridge. I have them in different dimensions: a very narrow one, which I find very useful for the kids` squeezable yogurts or yogurt drinks, they fit perfectly in there and when I need one, I just grab it from the container and I am done. Before getting it, the little pouches were laying on the fridge shelf, falling down and creating a mess! I have three bigger bins too, one is for the regular yogurt jars, one is for bread and one is on the bottom shelf of my fridge, where I put some random items which I don`t use too much. I also have a couple containers in the fridge drawer for the cheese: one is for the pieces of cheese (like Parmigiano), the other one contains feta boxes and string cheese for the kids: once I buy the box, I will take them all out, divide them in single string cheese (when you buy them they are connected the one to the other) and place them in the container so that they are more accessible to the kids too when they want to grab one. I used to leave the cheeses on a plate in order not to create a mess (otherwise I would find cheese crumbles everywhere) but I feel like the container is much better because it keeps all the cheeses in one spot and prevents them from moving around when someone opens the drawer.
I use these containers also for the pantry: I put the cereal bags in it (without the carton box, so they are less bulky) and the cookie boxes which have already been opened, so when I get the table ready for breakfast, I just have to get the containers and not the single cookie or cereal boxes!
Another use for these bins is medicines: I just organized my medicine cabinets (I keep all my medicines in a cabinet in the kitchen) and I find these clear containers much better because I can see inside and once again, the container containing the multivitamins that we take in the morning can just be pulled out in the morning and placed on the table, instead of getting the boxes out one by one!
3-METAL BASKETS (AMAZON $ 15,99 WORLD MARKET $ 9,99):
I just got one of these because I have a small pantry (I don`t have a whole `closet/pantry` as the ones I see on Instagram lately). I like it because it is rose gold metal (of course!), and because I can see what I placed inside and it keeps the pantry organized. I have another similar basket (which I got at World Market) and I use it in the bathroom for toilet paper.
4-JUNK DRAWER ORGANIZER ( AMAZON, $ 9,09):
These are very useful when placed in the kitchen drawers of course to keep the utensils separated, but I got some of them for the drawers in my bathroom and I use them for Aurora`s hair accssories: they keep all of her pins, elastic bands, her brush and little jewels well organized. I use it for the same purpose for my hair things and my makeup in my bathroom drawers.
5-MAKEUP CONTAINER (AMAZON, $ 14,49):
These containers come in many shapes and dimensions and I find them very useful to keep makeup organized. I have one just for lipsticks (which I find very cute but too small because it just fits 6 lipsticks) and another which has three drawers and many spaces where I can fit mascaras, glosses, lipsticks and many other products.
Ok guys, this is it for today. Hopefully you got some organization ideas..
I hope you have a nice, warm weekend and I will meet you here next week!
Anna